Badger

..only by himself though

Burnley do look to be stockpiling strikers now, Deeney (or is it Deeley?) from Watford, Lucas Jukiewhatever from M'boro, Sordell.

If they are all as good as that bloke from the Channel Islands in the 90's for us, we should try getting one or two more.

Agree that we should have brought in his replacement before releasing him. In the meantime tell him to train on his own. If he does go to suit himself and his new club then it will appear that yet again the buying club has dictated the terms of the move.

Indeed it does. Sorry but I could not wade through that. So we are "positive", but does that mean "positive" in a 'we are still optimistic of signing Ings' , or a 'well, sod it, won't sign him, but the sum is shining today, and we might sign someone else instead ' way ? I'll assume and hope it's in signing Ings.

The bit about Ings was potentially interesting, before going off a tangent...

But the good thing from our angle is that the Dutch , as I understand it,have planned in advance. Hiddink until 2016, and then Danny Blind takes over for the 2018 WC. Of course it could change if either decide to take a lucrative (£££) club job. I'm impressed by their planning when compared to the 'media scrum' we have when the job comes available with most candidates running for the hills to distance themselves from the post, and another old favourite conducting his application from the window of a 4x4 to journalists outside a home in Poole.

I never thought I'd want one of our better players to join Man Utd, but yes, be delighted if he ends up somewhere other than L/pool, or the Norfff London yobbos.

Good news then , I hadn't seen any posts from him since the end of the season, and assume he is just enjoying the sunshine in Devon.

At one point he looked set to join West Ham.One report I read at the time of this falling through said Nice wanted £9m. Although this article suggests agents fees were a problem: http://www.insidefutbol.com/2014/07/21/west-ham-capture-of-nice-defender-timothee-kolodziejczak-scuppered-by-agent-fees/151015/

I'd have thought Rojo might prove over ambitous for us, and the attraction for him of joining us left for norf London a while back. Would be pleased if we can pull it off though. Dier would be a useful addition if possible also.

Yes, spot on. Select another non achiever at international level - one goal in the WC for Christ sake - and a player whose very selection for the starting XI should not be taken for granted as captain. The krauts, Spanish and Dutch build teams, we just throw high profile names together and hope the 'gameplan' just comes together on the pitch.

I can agree with both points of view here. Gerrard's contribution to the national team is overrated due to club form and media 'love in' with his club. Can I recall any great moments of his time playing for England ? No. At least Beckham - who also lead England in a period of non achievement - has a few spectacular free kicks that stand out. He may deserve some "respect" , but lets not go overboard about another underachiever for the national side. He offered "commitment", but little else. Lahm also retired from international football with about the same number of caps. What has Lahm won in that time, and how many finals/semi-finals has he played in ? Compare that to Gerrard to put some perspective on it. Gerrard may have been a decent servant for England, but no no means an England legend.

Aren't they also selling all their better players after last season's exploits. Not much ambition there then. Would suit us perfectly though selling him elsewhere than to Brendan or north London yobbos.

An open invitation to disaster if we do.

GK - Forster/Marshall, and if not one of these two then McCarthy from Reading CB - de Vrij/Van Dijk , or for younger prospects Kongolo from Feyenoord who can also play LB,or Maguire from Sheff Utd LB - Robertson MF - not sure of a wide player, Grenier if we need an AM (although seems unlikely if Ramirez is staying). ST - Ings Also agree with St Rees above Clasie if Morgan goes

An issue for us is timing of getting new CB's in as you'd imagine De Vrij for example will want to know if mancs are a possibility before considering other clubs. The MEN article states: I doubt that it'll take him 3/4 weeks before making a bid for De Vrij, if they want him, but if they spend time exhausting the Hummels option first. I hope we don't wait for all this to unfold, as we might end up missing other options. If come 7th August De vrij signs elswhere, does that leave us scratching around wondering if Caulker is available to find, "oh bugger, he signed for QPR a fortnight ago.."

I read that the reason the West Ham moved did not proceed was that Nice suddenly hiked the asking price to 9m (not sure if £ or euros).

Although FF is a couple of years younger, and Watson will have worked with him with the England set up.

That would be a step in the right direction.

Agree, I'd rather we brought the player in asap rather than stint on the extra 3m or so. There are of course options to this. Agree some spurious add-ons with his club, or better still tell Liverpool that Lovren's fee has just increased by £1.5m ! For £9m I suspect we'd get Marshall from Cardiff - so it's decision time for the transfer committee.

Yes, this p1sses me off as well whenever I hear that stupid nickname bandied about. Ruddock was briefly known as "stomper" when he played for Saints. The 'razor' crap was given to him when he arrived at Liverpool. Another example of genuine, and unique 'scouse wit', that we're all supposed to admire.

But will probably want ludicrous wages.

I thought the FA Cup was back on BBC from this season as well.

I too was hoping RK might be able to persuade him to come to us but think its unlikely.